“Did you have an endgame to this little drama?”
He scratched behind his ear.
“I thought not. And now we know who put him up to it. Go get him on a boat. I’m going home.”
“To Manchester?”
“No.”
“Good.” He strode toward Stubly, then stopped, handed the pistol to Tobias, exchanged low words, and trotted back to her. “Your brother will take care of Stubly. I’ll take you home.”
Henrietta turned her steps toward Hyde Park. “My carriage may still be waiting in Hyde Park, beyond the hill.” Or maybe not. The driver could have taken off back home to alert her grandparents of her escape.
Grayson fell in step beside her, tangling his hand with hers. The ground beneath them rose upward, and they leaned forward to tackle the climb together. When they reached the top of the hill, Grayson dropped Henrietta’s hand. “It’s an odd sensation to be one person one minute and another person the next. Grayson Maxwell turns into Viscount Rigsby on the arrival of a single letter. No. With the slice of a single sabre, the entire world viewed me differently. Even you.”
She drummed her fingers on her shoulder. He was right. He’d gained a title and she’d viewed him, his desires, differently than she had before. She felt her cheeks heat while the rest of her body chilled. She wrapped her arms around herself for warmth.
“No. I cannot fully comprehend your experience, losing your brother and becoming someone else to the rest of the world. But I do know what it’s like to …” How to say it? “To be two people at once. I’m an earl’s granddaughter. And I’m a factory owner’s daughter. Not everyone can make sense of it. Or me.”
He pulled her into his arms and rested his chin on top of her head. She sighed into him, delighting in the hard warmth of his arms and chest. “I’m so sorry, Gray. I should never have treated you differently after your brother died.”
His arms tightened.
“I’ll never treat you like a future duke again,” she promised.
He snorted a laugh. “Glad to hear it.”
They stood together, looking out over Hyde Park. As the sun rose, the fog rolling over the park’s grassy carpet dispersed. The fog between them lifted as well.
Grayson cleared his throat. “I’m sorry, too. None of this would have happened if we had not … if I had not …”
She turned in his arms and buried her nose in his chest.
His palms rubbed up and down her spine, soothing.
She spoke into his chest. “Grayson, will you care if gossip about us ever does get out?”
“Will you still be accepted by the Earl and Countess of Bennington?”
She laughed. “My grandparents? Of course.”
“And Lord and Lady Stonefield?”
“Of course. Ada will likely marry their son soon, and she’d never let them cut me. Lady Stonefield would never even think of it. She’s a dear heart.”
“And don’t forget the Duke of Devonmere.”
Her face fell. “Your father. He’ll be disappointed.”
Grayson chuckled. “I think not. You’ll find a warmer welcome from my father than you expect.” He stroked her hair. “So, three prominent families who won’t cut you. And the others will come around. Love matches are forgiven many sins, I hear.”
“The Duke and Duchess of Valingford won’t forgive a thing. In fact, they want me dead.”
“Hen, we’ll take care of this.”
“How can we fight the duke and duchess? All we have to prove their guilt is the word of a man with a pistol to his heart.”
“We’ll find a way.”